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Friday, September 01, 2006

I get quoted, the Seattle Times column on politics and youngins

I try never to get quoted during work. Ironically, yesterday I had a conversation with one of my co-workers on how to best send a press release so a particular newspaper doesn't attribute anything to you. You have to be sneaky.

But, today, Ryan Blethen quotes me and I'm happy. Good column, its about politics in general and how my generation relates. I think I have a good point, but the entire column is pretty good. You should read the entire thing, but here is my part:

Emmett O'Connell, a 29-year-old respondent from Olympia, summed it up best during a telephone interview this week: "People see the parties being solely focused on winning elections, so they don't want to get involved."

O'Connell is not a bystander. He is the Web master for America For Richardson, the unofficial site for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's possible run for president. O'Connell also writes for a number of blogs, including Western Democrat and Olympia Time.

Even with an insider's view, O'Connell craves what the other respondents want.

"More than anything, we want authenticity," he wrote. "We're the generation of cable television, telemarketing, infomercials and junk mail. We don't want to be sold; rather, we want to be engaged."

I'm hardly an insider though.

I think this is a paragraph I influenced as well, it includes some points I made:

The only way to force open the seemingly impenetrable boundaries of party politics is for a new generation to get involved and not lose sight of the reasons for doing so. Involvement does not necessarily mean working for a candidate or getting a job on a politician's staff. Political involvement should include civic involvement. Only by being engaged in a community can a person truly understand its needs.

I know it sounds silly. Politics should be about more than just electing the right person. It should be about making better communities, and often times that is more than electing someone.